Money Life Network
Your Personal Finance Tipping Point And A Contest
Posted on June 3, 2008 |
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What is your personal finance tipping point? I see there being two tipping points in one’s personal finance. The first is when you finally admit to yourself how bad your finances are and you resolve to do something about it (and you actually start to do something about it). The second is that point when everything comes together; all of your saving and paying off debt come to a point where you can finally say you have a positive net worth and you can see when your debt will end.
For me the first point came many years ago while living on my own for a few years. I was paying my bills which included a few credit card bills and I realized I was putting a good part of my paycheck, which wasn’t that big, into paying credit cards! And for what? I didn’t really have a whole lot to show for it. On top of that my budget was so tight I would occasionally miss a payment date by a few days costing me even more. So here I was living in a dinky studio apartment with debt up the wazoo. It had to change and it did. I made sure I always had enough to get my bills paid on time. As my credit got better I transferred debt to lower and zero percentage credit cards. Other cards were called to get their rates lowered. I would pay extra on one card while paying the minimums on the others. I stopped charging things to my credit cards that I didn’t need. I curbed my spending so I would have more for to pay my credit cards. It was slow but it worked. Which leads me to…
My second tipping point, in which I reached that point of positive net worth, came after I was kicked out of my apartment. No, I didn’t miss any rent payments. Thank goodness it wasn’t that bad. But there were problems with zoning which required me to move. Even though I had been paying off my credit cards, and was seeing a difference too, I didn’t have a whole lot in savings to support a move. I didn’t want to resort to the cards again to get me by. My other option - Move back with the ‘rents! It hurt but my expenses were much lower. I was able to take extra money and decimate my credit card debt. One day I looked at my credit card accounts and my bank account and realized I crossed a threshold. I finally had a positive net worth! I was in the black! That moment felt so good. I had been waiting for it for a long time. And I’ve been in the black since!
And now to the contest.
I’m giving away a $25 Amazon gift certificate. There are three ways to enter:
- Leave a comment on this post telling me your personal finance tipping point. It can either be the moment you realized you needed to fix your finances or that point where you discovered you were finally in the black. Make sure you leave a valid email address in the comment. This will give you one (1) entry.
- Subscribe either to my feed or via email. There will be a secret phrase at the bottom. Email me using my contact form and tell me the secret phrase. This will give you five (5) entries. (Note: If you are already subscribed you can still email me the secret phrase)
- If you have your own blog, write about your personal finance tipping point and link back to me. Email me through my contact form with your link. This can be a full-on post or a quick few sentences in a round-up. This will give you ten (10) entries.
You can enter each way once. I’ll put all of the entries into an online randomizer to choose the winner. Entries can be submitted up to 11:59 am Friday, June 13th. I’ll contact the winner to email the gift certificate. If the email address is not valid I will award the prize to the next email address in the randomizer. (I reserve the right to not include any entrants I consider SPAM).
What is your personal finance tipping point?
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photo by aeu04117
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Filed Under Personal finance, credit card, debt
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34 Responses to “Your Personal Finance Tipping Point And A Contest”
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I wish I can tell you these two points, but I can’t really define them myself. It seems to be gradual change for me.
Interesting article!
My personal finance tipping point was about two years ago when I found out that my roommate had not been paying her share of the rent to her mother, who writes out our rent check to the Landlord (because the Landlord refused to take any more checks from my roommate).
I took this as a huge wake-up call, and decided that if I didn’t get my act together, I’d eventually be drowned by my roommate’s fiscal irresponsibility.
Since then, I have paid off all but one credit card, am well on the way to paying that one off, and will then be concentrating on aggressively paying off personal loans until my student loans come out of forbearance in December, at which time I plan to split my money to continue paying down personal loans while paying more than the minimum toward my student loans.
Great idea, FFB. I’ll be sharing my full “tipping point” story on my blog, but I’ll share a bit here:
The moment I realized I needed to fix my finances:
This was when I started to listen to Dave Ramsey. Prior to that I knew a lot about finance (I’m a CPA), had a great income, and lived relatively within my means, but I didn’t know “personal” finance. I didn’t know my finances needed fixing really.
Dave taught me a lot about getting to a more positive financial standpoint and challenged me to make the most of my income. From that point it’s been a slow, gradualy process, but I’ve made it very far and definitely beyond the second tipping point.
my full tipping point story can be found here, but basically my big tipping point came when I got married and I was no longer responsible for just my own finances - I was responsible for both of us now. That was a wakeup call.
My personal tipping point was on a shopping trip with my mother and my sister a couple months ago. They were spending a lot of money and I spent a total of $100… and half of that was groceries. My mom kept trying to give me money, thinking that I wasn’t spending because I was poor. I told her that I was just enjoying the day with them and it had no connection with how much money I spent. And I really meant it. That was a good day.
My personal tipping point was when my husband and I had to file bankruptcy a few years ago. It was a wakeup call for me. I don’t ever want to be in debt again. Credit cards had put us to that point, and we didn’t want to be in that bondage again. It was a blessing to start over, and we’ve tried to be responsible financially ever since.
We’re not yet to the second tipping point, but slowly working to it, with savings and paying on our mortgage.
My tipping point was more of a curve, inevitable but not so pointy. I went on a trip to London, which really messed up the credit card balance. Loved it! Maybe too much….Then I got my beloved pickup truck into two crack ups in a row. I wasn’t hurt (whew!), but my poor old friend had two back-to-back major body work jobs, each over $1000 apiece, in the span of one month. Well, I wasn’t ever gonna get back to London if I was putting all of this money into my poor ol’ truck. So, I went to Craigs’ List, put it up for sale, and sold it for a bit less than I wanted, cold-hard cash. Still, Iearned a couple of important lessons, started to walk to work and invested in a bus pass, and spent the winter scrimping so I could get out of debt. Now my cards are paid off, I’m saving to MOVE to London (someday…), and I am still without a car. Meanwhile, I like to browse sites like yours, where I learn how to cope, save as much as I can, and pay cash to keep off the plastic. So, where’s my tipping point? It lies in memories of London, in smiles when my bank account statements come in, and in my decreasing waistline as I walk, walk, walk, towards my dreams.
It’s always interesting to read about someone’s tipping point, so this is great! Mine came when I graduated from law school and realized that somehow I had to pay living expenses and my substantial student loans. I discovered The Dollar Stretcher web site and never looked back!
Our tipping point?
Over 15 years ago we were contemplating starting a family.
We decided to bank (save) my entire wage for 2 years to see how we’d ‘manage’ on one wage once ’said family’ came into existence.
Guess what, we did it, and have continued to live on this one wage ever since!
Our children are both in school now and ’saving’ has become an even greater challenge.
Namely because, I continue to be the full-time Home-Maker; husband wage has increased very little; and expenditures & inflation keep rising.
However, what a great inspiration all these sites are and continue to be - thankyou & God’s blessings.
Hi!
I found this via CFO’s blog (thank you Cathy). I have shared my tipping point. Thank you for the opportunity to share my experience and participate in this giveaway.
My success tipping point was when we got a full 6 months of expenses saved after getting out of debt. That was an amazing feeling, one that still inspires security and renewed freedom and energy.
The day I realized I had over $20,000 in just credit card debt.
jceko77@yahoo.com
Mine was gradual as well, while I worked at a financial aid office. I felt so stupid telling students to manage their money when I had never really managed mine. So I started finding personal finance resources online and I read a really funny book called “Save Karyn” about a woman paying off $20,000 of consumer debt and changing her spending habits. Now I can’t get enough of pf blogs and saving my own money! But I haven’t really reached a big 2nd tipping point, though when I think about how fast I paid down my credit card and car loan and helped pay for my wedding, I feel very grateful - but my student loans are still nagging me!
@ finaidgirl: Who was the author of Saving Karyn? Would love to read it. Thanks in advance!
I posted the full story on my blog. But here a quick version:
New baby, new house, stretched finances. We wanted to find a way to save more than we were.
otherdeb: Author is Karyn Bosnak. She has a website at savekaryn.com but it’s mostly to promote her other books since she is now a full-time author I believe. But she is a great, funny writer!
@finaidgirl: Thanks! WIll look it up in the local library, and see if I can get it through the hold system.
The contest is now closed. Thank you everyone for sharing your personal finance tipping points. It’s been great reading all of your inspiring stories!
The day I realized I had over $20,000 in just credit card debt.
@ Timothy - That’s a lot of credit card debt! I wish you luck in getting rid if it!